Rebels attack select targets in Mindanao

From the Manila Times (Mar 5): Rebels attack select targets in Mindanao

FOLLOWING the military’s claim that the Maoist rebels are dwindling, the New People’s Army (NPA) responded on a high note by launching guerrilla attacks on selected military detachments in Mindanao and Visayas.

Reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday showed that the first two attacks were separately launched against military targets in Surigao del Sur province.

Attacked were the patrol bases of Echo Company, 23rd Infantry Battalion, Fourth Infantry Division in Barangay Tagbayani in Sison town and the Peace and Development Teams at Sitio Buya, Barangay Camamonan, Gigaquit.

First Lt. Stephen Basco, civil military operations officer, 301 Infantry Battalion, Fourth Infantry Division, said that the attacks were launched by the rebels’ Guerrila Front 16 of North Eastern Mindanao Regional Committee.

But on both occasions, Basco said that the government troops managed to retaliate also with heavy fire that forced the rebels to withdraw.

Because of the twin attacks, Basco added that all the subordinate units under the 30th Infantry Battalion have been placed in full alert status.

The latest incident happened on Tuesday between troopers of the 82nd Infantry Battalion and Maoist rebel members in Barangay Bad-as, San Joaqun, Iloilo City.

Major Ray Tiongson, chief of the Public Affairs Office-Third Infantry Division, said that the government troops were conducting peace and security patrol when it received reports that the rebels were extorting money and food supplies from residents of said village.

Lt. Col. Eldwine Almase, commander of the 82nd IB, said that the encounter lasted for about 25 minutes before the insurgents withdrew to different directions.

Recovered from the area, he added, were backpacks, personal belongings and subversive documents of high intelligence value.

He said that there were no casualties in the government side and neither from the rebels, though there were bloodstains in the encounter site.

Earlier, Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman, said that the number of the rebels that returned to the government in 2012 rose by 56 present to 367 from 235 recorded in 2011.

He added that based on reports from various military field units also showed a 63 percent increase in the number of neutralized rebels in 2012, while NPA-initiated violent incidents dropped by 21 percent from 473 in 2011 to 374 in 2012.

The military earlier claimed that from a peak of 24,430 revolutionary fighters in mid-1980s, the underground group’s strength has dwindled to 4,043 because of battle losses and surrenders.

This was disputed though by the Communist Party of the Philippines, saying that the militants’ revolutionary forces were steadily growing in strength and poised for big leap in the coming years.

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